This invention relates generally to pen-based computing systems, and more particularly to organization of data captured by a smart pen.
Devices exist for electronically capturing strokes made by a pen-type input device. However, existing devices are usually limited in their functionality. Many have limited or no processing power and are therefore limited simply to storing strokes for later off-pen processing. The lack of sufficient on-pen processing power also significantly limits the ability of these devices to execute more sophisticated pen-based software applications. In addition to a lack of processing power, existing devices typically are also limited in the number and types of interface I/O modalities, if any, that are present in addition to stroke capture. For example, very few, if any, devices can simultaneously support many modalities, such as audio capture, audio playback, and visual feedback.
Furthermore, although existing tools enable the creation of digital documents from notes that were taken by a pen-type input device, their ability to allow a user to organize these notes in a meaningful way is limited. Organization is largely limited to the approach used for more traditional digital documents: the creation of a hierarchical folder system and the placing of digital documents (e.g., notes) into the appropriate folders. While this organization approach may be suitable for other types of digital documents, it does not fully take advantage of the “paper” nature of digital documents captured by pen-type input devices and smart pen computing systems. It also can be time-consuming if the user is required to manually move documents to the appropriate folders.
Accordingly, new approaches to organizing “digital paper” are needed to fill the needs unmet by existing methods